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Tag Archives: Spirit

“Everyone who acknowledges Me before others, I will acknowledge before My heavenly Father. But whoever denies Me before others, I will deny before My heavenly Father.”

It’s not very often that the Vatican gives approval to a film showing at the cinema, but it happened in 1997 when the Italian movie Life is Beautiful was first released. It’s an unusual film which deals with a sensitive subject, that of the Nazi Holocaust and the deportation of Jews to concentration camps. Although it won an Oscar for best picture, the movie has its critics as well as its admirers.

The film tells the story of a Jewish Italian man named Guido, an attractive clown-like figure who falls in love with Dora, the woman of his dreams. His humorous personality wins her affection and eventually they marry and have a son. The little boy is about six years old when the Nazi persecution takes over. The Germans round up Guido and his son and, because Dora refuses to be left behind, all three are taken to a concentration camp. When they arrive the couple is separated in preparation for hard labor. Any children are killed, but Guido hides his son and persuades him the whole business is a game in which he must co-operate if he wants to win a prize. The scenes unfold with a mixture of comedy and drama, exploring the rich themes of love, of sacrifice, and of courage.Continue reading →

“Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these,”

Scrubbing the pan in which Sunday’s pot roast was roasted, getting your children to and from school, doctor’s appointments, rehearsals and practices, paying the bills and balancing the checkbook are hardly inspiring, exhilarating experiences. But they are holy acts.

The details of being a parent — cleaning, teaching, driving to and picking up, paying tuition, guiding, counseling, feeding, clothing — take on a spiritual character when they are part of the work of transforming a child into a sacred and thoughtful and engaged adult. Continue reading →